Day of Impact and Campaign Kickoff

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DAY OF IMPACT

SEPTEMBER 7, 2018

HEMMINGSON CENTER

United Way's Day of Impact Volunteer Activity and Luncheon Event proved to be a memorable experience for attendees this year. The event provided an opportunity to gain a better understanding of what it is like to live without enough money to meet basic needs through a luncheon discussion about our friend ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) and the effects of poverty on our community.

Read an article about the ALICE simulation written by Avista staffer Jae Ham:

“Everyone is so frantic, and they know it’s just a simulation,” said Michael Truex, construction project manager at Avista and ‘General Employer’ in the United Way ALICE simulation. “In 15 minutes, they are returning to their normal lives. The people who actually live this don’t have that luxury.”

I was invited to observe the ALICE (asset-limited, income-constrained, employed) simulation that United Way (UW) was hosting. As the simulation was nearing its end, the tension, chaos, and distress were becoming palpable. But so was the need for community unity.

I didn’t know what to expect, and based on the reactions of the participants, neither did they.

An overview of ALICE

The object of ALICE is to immerse each person into the reality of what life just above the poverty line but below the basic cost of living is like, because according to stats UW shared with its audience, on average 38 percent of our region lives that reality every day.

That’s no small number.

Participants learn personally and experientially rather than strictly by taking in information abstractly.

The ALICE simulation assigns each participant an identity, replete with name, age and an ALICE family unit and then gives each family a limited income, set of possessions and a realistic litany of life-sized obligations and circumstances.

These can include work, school, childcare, job loss, transportation, unavailability of benefits due to being above the federal poverty line, etc. The general chaos inherent in life is then peppered in in various ways to keep it as realistic as possible.

Being robbed, receiving unexpected assistance, or even knowing how to access and utilize available resources can be the difference between a family making it through another month or losing their grip on the mortgage.

Each ALICE family progresses through four 15 minute segments. Each 15 minute segment represents a week of what life is like in the experience of an actual ALICE family. The simulation is based on situations commonly observed in the lives of people who cope with this kind of poverty and UW and SNAP stresses that the simulation is an experience, not a game.

The experience

An impression began to form upon me as I meandered through the chaos of people scrambling to meet their respective challenges and to take care of their ALICE families. The tone of conversation was one of just trying to survive. Here are a few examples of what I heard from ALICE participants:

“Do we need to fill our prescriptions?”

“What? She said she paid that! I’m gonna get her.”

“Sometimes we have to do what we have to do.”

“They were super happy to go to jail because they got fed.”

“Our family has only $6 of wiggle-room in our monthly budget. I need $3 for school supplies tomorrow. It’s going to be tight.”

Sherry Bentley, accounting analyst at Avista shared her experience: “I stood in lines, only to run out of time and have to return home without being helped. My 17 year old son had to support our family with his part-time job. I had to tell my daughter “no” when she asked for $5 to go on a school field trip. I felt like a terrible mother! Even though it was a simulation, I actually felt my heart rate increasing with each hardship, and I felt physically stressed, trying to figure out how I was going to support my family.”

Avista’s Amanda Ghering, campaign development associate on loan to UW, stood in line to apply for assistance. She was participating as a 42-year-old man named Albert Aber and remarked “I’m about to lose my house.”

One ALICE participant was approached by an in-simulation police officer and subsequently arrested under suspicion of multiple attempts of robbery. “My kids aren’t eating and I can’t get a job. I’m trying to take money from someone.”

In fact, petty crime was more common than you might think. Avista’s Cody Myers, construction services tech in Coeur d’Alene, had a unique experience in his ALICE family role as a 10-year-old boy in the Chen family. “It’s crazy how little our family could get done. I guess I didn’t realize how much of a struggle it is. Mom works all day, dad lost his job but has to pay bills and my 16-year-old sister is always out with her boyfriend, leaving me to take care of our eight-year-old brother. We were bored so we started hanging out with this older kid who taught us how to sell drugs.”

Prior to this, Mr. Chen, the in-simulation father of this ALICE family had a good job and the family enjoyed a fairly comfortable life.

More than once I heard it stated that this kind of poverty is always one step away from becoming the reality for many families, but that it takes many more steps to get out of it. Some, perhaps, never do.

This is where United Way steps in

Spokane County United Way is working to create long-term solutions to improve education, income and health to fight poverty.

They focus on increasing high school graduation rates, financial stability of families and on decreasing domestic violence, child abuse and neglect rates.

A family in the simulation is considered to have survived ALICE conditions if they kept their home secure, utilities on, school-age children in school, made loan payments, didn’t scrimp on the food budget and responded appropriately to unexpected and miscellaneous expenses.

When it was over, the participants and their hosts held a debriefing session to highlight insights that had been valuable as a result of their experience. A scant few ALICE families had improved their situations, one or two had even managed to secure housing whereas they had started out living in a shelter.

Rest assured, ALICE families who improved relied on resources like the ones UW makes available to real people in no-win situations, helping them to break the cycle.

Scott Phipps, senior IT systems analyst for Avista said “…there was no time for self-improvement. I didn’t find a way around that. It really makes you think.”

Comments from participants:

"A significant amount of work was obviously involved in setting up the ALICE simulation for the United Way constituent group. This brought home in a very personal way the "why" for the strategic work of United Way and the importance of each of us in advancing the Vision of focusing on education, health and income for all of Spokane. Participating in this experience made me feel a part of something great going on our community."

"The realistic situations in the ALICE simulation drive home what people face in a relatable and realistic manner. Discussing what we learned afterward provided more aha moments as we shared our families' experiences. Listening to other's specific situations opened our eyes to how our less fortunate neighbors face real-life hardships we don't even understand. Well done!"